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John Eichelberger
Eichelberger Background * Candidate for PA Senate in 2006 and won primary in May, 2006. Issues: Building a "Culture of Life." Protecting 2nd Amendment Freedoms. Defending Traditional Marriage. Protecting Pennsylvania's Taxpayers. Preserving Community Hospitals, Protecting Jobs. Standing Up for Worker Freedom. Opposing Illegal Payraises. Links * I Like Eich * Promise to PA * VIPs Harvested content from candidate site No extensive issues page was on the candidate site in May, 2006. Challenging the Odds. John Eichelberger begins his campaign for the Pennsylvania Senate in Freedom Township, the rural, Blair County community which formed his life's values. An economic and social conservative, John's insurgent candidacy has become a rallying point for the growing movement to reform state government. His public service career has always charged impossible odds. From exposing political corruption to waging successful campaigns for county commissioner against well-funded political machines, his commitment to challenging the status quo is uncompromising. His sense of fairness and integrity in public service was first modeled by his father, John, Sr., a school board member and respected justice of the peace. When he died of a stroke, the eldest of his five children, John, Jr., at age eleven helped raise the family and learned about hard work from his mother, Faye. John brings these attributes and strong sense of family values to his public office and this campaign. Standing with Taxpayers. John Eichelberger's three-term service as a Blair County Commissioner has earned him a reputation as a disciplined fiscal conservative. At the same time Harrisburg politicians were voting for record increases in state budgets, incurring massive levels of public debt and increasing the state's personal income tax, John's leadership produced lean spending plans, and only two tax increases over the past decade despite being saddled with tremendous increases in unfunded mandates from Harrisburg and Washington. John won tough battles to privatize the airport, the tax claim office, jail medical services and other operations of government as well as publicly owned facilities. While state capitol leaders backed an illegal legislative pay hike ranging from 16 to 54%, Commissioner Eichelberger contrasted the county's approach by his support of a legal, across-the-board, cost-of-living increase for county officials of just 3% to 3.5%. The county's cost-of-living increase is decided, by law, every four years; Blair County chooses to hold a special evening meeting for maximum public participation. It has been the custom of the Commissioners to keep all public official cost-of-living increases less than the increase of the employees that work for the county. The officials whose pay is effected under this procedure include: Sheriff, Prothonotary, Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds, Jury Commissioners, Controller, Treasurer and Commissioners. No part of the cost-of-living increase is taken during the term of office in which it is voted upon and no other raise has been instituted in the 10 years John has served the county. As a signer of the Americans for Tax Reform "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," John Eichelberger is committed to voting against any increase in state taxes. Also, John has publicly stated that he will not vote for any pay raise. Fighting for our Values. If elected, John Eichelberger will be the district's first pro-life senator in three decades. A strong supporter of programs that provide compassionate alternatives to abortion, he believes Pennsylvania can and must do more to extend full legal protection to unborn children. Additionally, John supports state action on a Federal Marriage Amendment, protecting traditional marriage and defining it as between "one man and one woman." He opposes so-called "domestic partnership benefits" and supports efforts to roll back recently enacted state laws that give special legal protection to homosexuals. A strong supporter of Second Amendment Freedoms, and member of the National Rifle Association, he opposes all efforts to limit a citizen's right to keep and bear arms. John and his wife Charlotte live in Blair Township, Pennsylvania. John's son Johnny (John H., III) is an accomplished musician and currently an honors freshman at George Mason University. Their extended family includes three rescued Airedale Terriers: Rufus, Rascal and Keano. Charlotte is best known as the health reporter for WTAJ-TV10 and area church organist. The couple remains active in numerous civic projects and community organizations. TRUTH SQUAD ALERT! January 17, 2006 Here We Go, Dirty Campaigning Surfaces . . . Exposing the Negative Politics of Senator Jubelirer The State Senate campaign of Commissioner John Eichelberger responds today to the decision by Senator Jubelirer to again employ private investigator Ron Harper, Jr. Harper, who is documented to have been paid by the State Senate, attended this morning’s Blair County Commissioner’s meeting for the purposes of intimidating Commissioner Eichelberger. Mr. Harper has worked for Senator Jubelirer on numerous campaigns including: the effort to threaten and silence the Young Conservatives of Pennsylvania as they attempted to educate the public about the 2005 legislative pay raise, Robert Regola’s campaign against Democratic Senator Allen Kukovich and Barry Wright’s campaign for Blair County Commissioner. The I Like Eich Campaign will not be intimidated by the deplorable, yet anticipated tactics of Bob Jubelirer. John Eichelberger will not be swayed from running a strong campaign based on the issues and the 31-year liberal voting record of Senator Jubelirer More information and published reports are available about the storied relationship of Senator Jubelirer and Ron Harper, Jr. Please contact our campaign Executive Director, Jason High for more details and links to the reports. TRUTH SQUAD ALERT! April ??, 2006 Jubelirer Ads Disregard the Truth HOLLIDAYSBURG, PA – State Senator Bob Jubelirer is running negative attack ads throughout the 30th District in stomach-churning quantities. What Bob Jubelirer says and what is fact are two different things. Pay Raises and Compensation Jubelirer Says: “Eichelberger has voted for two pay raises.” The Facts: Not true. John Eichelberger has been required by county code to vote on raises for all county officials twice in the ten plus years he has served as commissioner. On the first occasion he voted against any increase. Four years later Commissioner Eichelberger voted for a four year cost of living adjustment schedule as follows: 3.0%, 3.0%, 3.5% and 3.5% Jubelirer Says: “Eichelberger’s pay is 58% more today than when he took office.” “Eichelberger’s pay raise was 58.4%” “John Eichelberger has taken and voted for pay raises of over 58%.” The Facts: Not true. Charging Eichelberger with a 58.4% raise is ludicrous and factually incorrect. No one accounts by adding Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) together. If we were to account for Bob Jubelirer’s salary increases in that fashion, his would total over 600%. Note that he never calculates legislative pay raises in this manner. Even if all of John Eichelberger’s COLAs are added together over an eleven year period, the total is 41.75% - not 58.4%. The $60,879 figure used by Jubelirer is based on salary expectancy for 2007 – and even if the 2007 salary is included, Jubelirer’s numbers are still 11.3 percentage points too high. Jubelirer Says: “Eichelberger has raised his pay for a part time county commissioner’s job to $60,879.” “Eichelberger works full-time at his lucrative insurance business, BUT very part-time at his $60,879 taxpayer-paid job as County Commissioner.” “Even though he couldn’t do his job, Eichelberger took nearly $60,000 a year in taxpayer dollars and still raised his pay by more than 58%.” The Facts: Not true. Eichelberger does not receive more than $60,000 in compensation for his duties as a Blair County commissioner. The figure that he will receive this year and in all previous years is thousands of dollars below that rate. Additionally, a part time job does not consist of 40 or more hours per week of work. That’s exactly the time Eichelberger commits to the Blair County Commissioner’s office. Additionally, Eichelberger’s attendance record at county government meetings is understood to be the best in Pennsylvania. He has taken less than 30 vacation days in more than a decade of public service and Eichelberger has never taken a sick day. Eichelberger’s work in the private sector plays a minor role in his overall weekly schedule and his tax returns, which have previously been released, show that he has received almost no compensation from his insurance business since its inception. On the other hand, Bob Jubelirer has interests in an Altoona law firm (his name is listed among the partners) and real estate holdings. Jubelirer has neither produced tax returns nor been up front with exactly how much he takes in from his private interests as a government official in a position of trust. There is a quote extracted from a Tribune-Review article that the Jubelirer camp adores using in mailings. The quote on the mail piece states, “Simply put, the repeal never would have occurred without Jubelirer.” Bob Jubelirer evidently thinks that no one will look at the Brad Bumsted column. The sentence immediately before the quote in the Jubelirer mail piece by Bumsted says, “Bob Jubelirer, the top-ranking Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate, was one of the architects of the now-infamous July 7 pay hike.” Bumsted added, “Jubelirer stood like a rock in the way of pay opponents. He told Senate Democrat Leader Bob Mellow on Oct. 31 that he was going to support a bill to repeal the unvouchered expenses. Democrats upped the ante and amended the measure into a full repeal bill.” Lastly, when Bob Jubelirer mapped out and voted for the legislative pay raise he was fully aware that he would be approving a raise for both he and his wife, a commonwealth court judge. He proudly touts that HE repealed the pay raise and gave back the money. Did his wife return her pay raise?” Abstentions Jubelirer Says: “When John Eichelberger cannot vote because of conflicts he created himself, he is not looking out for seniors, children, the homeless and those who need medical services.” “Eichelberger abstains from votes so often that it prevents him from doing his job as a county commissioner.” “Eichelberger could not do his job 32 times in 2005.” The Facts: Not true. John Eichelberger is the president of Complete Insurance Services Inc. of Altoona. On every occasion that a client of Complete Insurance Services has any matter before the board of commissioners, John Eichelberger adheres to the highest ethical standards and the law and publicly discloses that relationship. John Eichelberger has cast thousands of votes as a county commissioner; his abstentions have never affected the county’s ability to do business and in no case whatsoever, has the welfare of seniors, children, the homeless or those in need of medical services been compromised. Jubelirer Says: “Eichelberger uses his position of public trust to sell insurance to county vendors through his lucrative, full time insurance business.” “In 2005 alone, Eichelberger could not vote on $2,807,642 worth of county contracts because he peddled insurance to the companies doing business with the county.” “Conflicts of interest kept Eichelberger from voting nearly 100 times. Obviously, his personal interests were more important than serving the public.” The Facts: Not true. In Bob Jubelirer’s mail pieces John Eichelberger is accused of abstaining from votes 99 times. Seventy-four of those 99 abstentions were because of a small car insurance policy he has handled for Blair Senior Services, that he has serviced since 1985 - eleven years prior to starting as a commissioner. The remaining abstentions include Eichelberger’s appointment to the conservation district board (required by law) and his wife’s appointment to serve as a volunteer on the county’s library board. John Eichelberger has never used his government position to get insurance business and has in fact turned down several offers to legally bid on business like the convention center and airport – both operated by authorities - because of his high ethical standards. Jubelirer Says: “John Eichelberger has so many conflicts of interest, a form had to be created just to keep track of them.” The Facts: Not true. A form to document John Eichelberger’s abstentions was never created. This point was obviously created by the imagination of Bob Jubelirer. Taxes and Government Reform Jubelirer Says: “Eichelberger has an anti-taxpayer record.” The Facts: Not true. Blair County has had only two tax increases in the eleven budgets that have come across John Eichelberger’s desk – a record far superior to most Pennsylvania counties. The Pennsylvania legislature has consistently forced county government to provide many services and has shifted the cost of those services from the state to the counties. County budgets are the fastest growing budgets in Pennsylvania; and 80% of county budgets are for state or federally mandated services. This cost shifting has resulted in tax increases in the majority of Pennsylvania counties over the past several years. Jubelirer Says: “John Eichelberger has never instituted a serious reform effort.” The Facts: Not true. John Eichelberger has been a recognized leader in reforming county government. He has led six separate privatization efforts in Blair County - most visibly the Altoona/Blair County Airport and last year, under Commissioner Eichelberger, Blair County was the first in Pennsylvania to privatize its tax claim bureau. John Eichelberger was chosen by the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania to chair its state-wide Prison Overcrowding Task Force - the first serious study of this complex issue since former Senator Mike Fisher’s study in the mid 1980s. Personal Attacks on John Eichelberger: There are extractions of John Eichelberger’s divorce records being hand- distributed throughout the district by the Bob Jubelirer campaign. This is poor politics and a sleazy brand of personal attack campaigning employed by Senator Jubelirer and his cronies. John Eichelberger’s complete divorce records are available to the public at the Blair County Courthouse. Bob Jubelirer has been divorced three times, where are his records? Fair Play John Eichelberger has openly and honestly released his expenditures, statements of financial interest, tax returns (both personal and business for he and his wife), and business clients. Eichelberger’s divorce records are available for public review in the Prothonotary office in the Blair County courthouse. Senator Jubelirer has never provided these records to the media or his constituents. It is time for Bob Jubelirer to package and release the following: * Business and personal tax returns for both he and his wife * Bob Jubelirer’s three sets of divorce records * A complete disclosure of Bob Jubelirer’s expense reports as a state senator * At least three years of Bob Jubelirer’s statements of financial interest * A listing of Bob Jubelirer’s law firm’s clients who have received public financial support and/or done business with the state Without fabricating stories about John Eichelberger’s public service record and his personal life, Jubelirer has no way to win this election. Jubelirer does not have a leg to stand on politically at this point in the race. He has every right to change his mind come election season but he cannot change his record. John Eichelberger will continue traveling throughout the 30th District while engaging voters and outlining his message of reform. Eichelberger’s resolute commitment to all causes conservative has already won him the impressive backing of conservative devotees Pat Toomey, Dr. Alan Keyes, and Political Action Committees such as The 100% ProLife PAC and The Family and Morality Political Action Committee (FAMPAC).